This is the last piece of information I need before I order... (resolutions)

OK, I have decided to go with either 1440x900 or 1680x1050, I have ONE LAST question...

Say you're playing a game and you have to lower the resolution.

If you lower from 1440x900 to 1280x800, will the quality be better or worse than it would be if you lowered from 1680x1050 to 1280x800?

Is there a way to lower the resolution in games without getting the blurry effect?

What about just in regular Windows or internet browsing? Any way to lower from 1680x1050 to 1440x900 without the bluriness?

I prefer 1440x900... 1280x800 is too big, and 1680x1050 is too small. I've seen screenshots of 1440x900 and it seems perfect. I just want to make sure I get the best thing for all around gaming, internet and college use.

 

The output of the video card will be enlarged to fill the panel. The pixels will be larger and it will look blocky.

This will be apparent at all times - 2D, 3D, everything. It is just the way LCDs work.

The only way around this is to use 1:1 aspect scaling. For example you have a 1680x1050 screen but have a 1280x800 size wallpaper. Well, if you center the wallpaper you avoid stretching it. Same with anything else - if your monitor has this ability you can avoid stretching the image and only use a portion of your LCD panel at 100% size. The only drawback is...you aren't using the whole screen.

My BenQ 24" FP241W can do this...I don't know if laptops can, but I doubt it.

 

I've had no problem with using lower resolutions in games. For your question, I think that it would not matter because the pixels in the screen with the lower resolution are inherently bigger, so you basically see the same effect. In games where wide screen is not supported, make sure to check keep hardware aspect ratio to prevent stretching though!